The present invention relates to a gaming machine, in which spinning symbols appear on a reel or a display of, e.g., a slot machine or poker gaming machine, and wherein a gaming value, such as in the form of gaming tokens, is paid as a payout depending on the results of the display.
There has been widely known a gaming machine by way of which gaming tokens or cash are bet, as in the case of a slot machine or a poker gaming machine, and which pays gaming tokens or cash to a player depending on the results of symbols appearing on a display device.
Such a gaming machine usually determines the result of a game as a “win” or “hit,” a “defeat” or “failure,” or a “draw” or “free spin.” Only when a “win” or “hit” has arisen, a payout corresponding to displayed symbols or a winning combination; that is, a combination of symbols, is paid.
Some slot machines have a plurality of reels, each having plural kinds of symbols printed on a columnar outer peripheral face thereof; a display window for displaying the reels, and a start lever for starting a game. There are also video-type slot machines, wherein symbols to be displayed on an imaging device are switched in place of physical reels being spun. In these slot machines, a player can view, e.g., three symbols, in one display column via one window.
Three horizontal lines and two diagonal lines, which are across symbols appearing in respective display columns, are called winning lines. When a player inserts gaming tokens, one or more winning lines corresponding to the number of gaming tokens inserted become effective. When the player pushes down the start lever, all reels start spinning in unison. After lapse of a predetermined time period, the reels stop spinning. If all symbols which constitute a certain winning combination stop and are aligned along one of the effective winning lines, a corresponding winning mode is constituted, and the player achieves winning. As a result, the player can acquire a payout corresponding to the thus-constituted winning combination. If the player again inserts gaming tokens, he/she can start the next game.
There has recently become popular a slot machine which performs lottery operation with actuation of a start lever as a game start, and displays symbols on the basis of the results of lottery.
Some slot machines have stop buttons located below the respective display columns, wherein display results vary according to a timing at which the player presses the respective stop buttons, as well as in accordance with the lottery result.
In order to enhance the interest of the player, some slot machines provide, in addition to ordinary games, a “big bonus game” corresponding to a “big win.”
A bonus game is classified into several types; namely, one type of bonus game affords the right to acquire a bonus payout when bonus symbols are aligned with a winning line and offers a bonus payout if the player can satisfy a predetermined requirement defined by subsequent sub-games; and another type of bonus game offers several free games which do not involve betting of additional gaming tokens.
A sub-game enables display of wild symbols. For example, a symbol of a safe can be displayed after appearance of a symbol of a banker. At the time of a bonus game, a die appears on the screen, and a payout is determined by the number of pips on the die. There is also a jackpot (big-payoff) game, such as a progressive game. Specifically, provided that the player is entitled the right to win a bonus, if the player has failed to acquire the bonus, a corresponding bonus payout is left for the next time. In a later game, a bonus payout plus the payout for the preceding bonus game are paid to a subsequent player who has acquired a bonus.
Particularly, the bonus-game provided by the slot machines equipped with stop buttons include “big bonus-game.” According to this game, the probability of generation of a “regular bonus award” corresponding to a mid-sized win and a “small winning combination” corresponding to a small win are set high. Here, the “regular bonus award” means an award which enables the player to play a “jackpot game” involving a considerably high probability of generation of a win, which occurs when identical symbols; e.g., BAR-BAR-BAR, are aligned. Here, the “jackpot game” is a game in which either an award or failure is selected through internal lottery operation. The “jackpot game” is usually completed when 12 games are played or winning is achieved eight times, whichever comes first. After such a game involving a high probability of generation of a win has been played a predetermined number of times (e.g., a maximum of 30 times) or a regular bonus award has arisen a predetermined number of times (e.g., three times), the “big bonus game” is terminated, and ordinary play is resumed.
Through such a “big bonus game,” the player can usually acquire 400 to 600 gaming tokens. If a game result has achieved a “big win,” the player can acquire a greater number of gaming tokens than in an ordinary game. Thus, a gaming machine which effects a “big bonus game” can enhance the interest of the player whose goal is acquisition of the highest possible number of gaming tokens.
Of the slot machines equipped with stop buttons, some slot machines are designed to make it easier for the player to acquire more gaming tokens, by a “notification game” or the like which always notifies to the player information relevant to an internally-generated specific award. The player can acquire profit only when having won games.
In addition to the above-described gaming machines, video gaming machines further include a poker gaming machine and a blackjack gaming machine, which are of table game type.
These video games correspond to mere embodiment of conventional card games in the form of gaming machines. Payout is effected for existing winning combinations according to existing odds.
However, such a gaming machine provides no payout or prize unless the player has a win or hit. A luckless player will lose or fail to win games many times even when playing games continuously over a long time period, and hence the players interest in games is lost. Particularly in the case of a gaming machine equipped with reel stop buttons, a beginner cannot acquire a win even when a winning has been internally generated through internal lottery operation, and play ends in consumption of gaming tokens. Even when one specific symbol which rarely appears is displayed, no prize is offered. Even when on several occasions the display has shown a combination of symbols which would constitute a winning combination if only one more symbol were to appear, despite a winning having been internally produced through internal lottery operation, no prize is provided for the player.
Games to be played on a video gaming machine using a card provide only winning combinations and odds that comply with rules of existing games, thereby spoiling the player's enjoyment.
Even when such tantalizingly-close-to-winning games have arisen frequently, such a gaming machine provides no redress. Beginners in particular cannot enjoy the entertainment of games of the gaming machine.
Such a gaming machine has no function of displaying the number of times a win has been achieved by a winning combination since a game was started. In other words, there has not been available any means which causes the player to ascertain how many times the player has achieved winning in a game through a winning combination thus far. The number of gaming tokens to be paid and game conditions are determined according to whether or not a player has achieved a win during a certain game. For this reason, even a player who has had a lot of wins or played over a long time period plays a game under the same conditions as those under which a player who has had a smaller number of wins or has just started, and the flow of a game becomes monotonous.